Le Professionnel

Director– Georges Lautner

Starring –Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Desailly, Cyrielle Clair


Country of Origin- France

Distributor - Kino Lorber

Number of Discs - 1

Reviewed by - David Steigman

Date- 08/76/2019

Le Professionnel is a French crime action film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo (Le Doulos, The Outsider) along with Jean Desailly and Robert Hossein. Based on the novel Death of a Thin-Skinned Animal by Patrick Alexander, Le Professionnel is the story of a French secret service agent Josselin Beaumont (Jean-Paul Belmondo) who is sent to Malagawi, Africa to kill Colonel Njala, the dictator there. Due to a major change on the political scope, Beaumont is redirected via the French secret service to the Malagawian authorities where he is given an unfair trial and given a long term sentence where he will doing hard labor for the foreseeable future. Along with another inmate, Beaumont miraculously escapes his imprisonment, and seeks vengeance the French secret servicemen who betrayed him and sent him to prison. When the secret service gets word of this, they send their agents to stop Beaumont, but he outsmarts them, staying a step ahead. 

Le Professionnel is another wonderful, suspenseful, stylish and atmospheric thriller. The acting by the veteran cast is as one would expect, superb. Screen legend Jean-Paul Belmondo shows why he is a world class performer. The story, pacing and action are all top notch. Director Georges Lautner, known for his comedies, ventured into a different genre and made a masterpiece! The soundtrack by legendary composer Ennio Morricone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) is also first class. The cinematography by Henri Decaë is also eye-catching and beautiful. And yes for those wondering, Malagawi is indeed a fictitious location.
 

Le Professionnel gets the Blu-ray treatment courtesy of Kino Lorber and it is another stellar release. The image quality to me is absolutely fantastic with beautiful vivid colors with deep rich textures to the scenery. Daylight scenes look stunning, film grain is present throughout, keeping the image looking film-like. Skin tones look balanced and natural. Even though it did not receive a 2K or 4K master, the 1080p image is still more than passable. 

The audio track, French DTS-HD master audio 2.0 is also excellent. The dialog is rich, the action noises and the music by Ennio Morricone comes in loud and clear. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.

There are just two extras to comment about. One is a superb audio commentary by Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson which is a tour de force of the making, production and behind the scenes information of Le Professionnel. There are also comparisons with the scores used in the film, as the American and European versions are not the same. This is a highly recommended commentary. 

The other extra are trailers for Le Professionnel, and other Kino Lorber catalog titles including The Outsider, Le Doulos and The Sicilian Clan.

Another superb film receives a quality Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. While a few more supplements would have been welcome, the commentary alone is worth getting this release. The image and audio on this Blu-ray are very impressive and should be a keeper on the shelf for fans of crime thrillers.